If this doesn't accurately sum up what it's been like to watch the Brewers for the past two seasons than nothing does. Just a constant uphill battle with what a modern day philosopher would call 'turrible' pitching. Aristotle. Plato. Charles Barkley.

In any case Doug Melvin made his first pitch (see what I did there?) at saving this staff and ultimately his job by trading for Shaun Marcum on Sunday. Marcum is coming off of a year that saw him go 13-8 with a 3.64 ERA for the Blue Jays last season so you can understand why Melvin wanted him. What I can't understand is why some Brewer's fans think this is a bad trade. I get that we gave up one of best offensive prospects and former first round pick Brett Lawrie but the bottom line is we got proven major league pitching for a propect. Sure Brett Lawrie could be raking at the top of the Jays order in two or three years, but at the same time he could be batting .220 after two major league seasons (see LaPorta, Matt). And people understand that Shaun Marcum is at WORST our second best pitcher upon arrival right? He had one less win than Yovani last season, and a better ERA. Not to mention he pitched in the friekin AL East. Day in day out he faced the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays. Now he gets to face the Pirates 6 times a year. This is like giong from playing Michael Jordan one on one everyday to doing a layup drill. Do you know what a 3.64 ERA is going to translate to in the NL where the teams are weaker and pitchers bat? Based on my conversion chart my best guess is Marcum has a -2.20 ERA next season. I'm not saying he's going win the NL Cy Young but I'm not saying he's not.  

Also if you're Shaun Marcum you've got to LOVE this move. Don't have to face A-Rod every week? Check. No need to figure out Canadian money anymore? Check. Replacing Dave Bush in a rotation where anything under a 5 ERA is considered an improvement? Check. Just a tour de force of 'win' for this guy.

PS: I knew Matt Laporta's career batting average off the top of my head. Help.

Double PS: Type "determination" into google and this video should come up 100 times out of 100. I mean I probably would have given up 20 seconds in, but this guy collects himself at the 1:20 mark and continues his march. Like this may as well be Mount Everst for this guy. For the life of me I don't understand how no TV networks have developed some kind of drunken Olympic games. Drunken hurdles, drunken high jump, drunken basketball, drunken archery=ratings bonanza. Seems like a no brainer to me. Plus you tell me what's more difficult; Michael Phelps swimming the 200 m butterfly in 3.2 seconds, or trying to walk up a slight incline after an all night bender. No contest.